Quill-less
by Scalene Waffles
Summary: Most porcupines can shed their quills. However, most porcupines don't shed them all at the same time.
1. Chapter 1

**This story will probably be longer than I thought. But probably not too much longer.**

 **I hope you enjoy it! :)**

* * *

It was a bright summer morning when Buster walked onto the stage to meet the contestants. Ever since the finale show and the theater's reconstruction, they had all met up frequently to perform different songs, help Buster and Eddie with shows as stagehands, or just to hang out.

Buster was in the middle of giving everyone their suggestions for songs for their next show, until he noticed that in the room was lacking a certain punk rock porcupine.

"Has anyone seen Ash," Buster asked, looking around.

"No", everyone said over each other as they shook their heads.

"Maybe she's just running a little late", Rosita said. "You know she's not much of a morning person."

Buster nodded his head at Rosita's sentence. It was well-known that the teenager was not an early riser, and that if it wasn't for her morning Slurpee, she probably would've fallen asleep on the subway and wind up in another state.

Again.

Suddenly they heard the opening of a door from backstage, as Ash started to run towards the stage.

"Sorry I'm late, Buster," she shouted from the door. "Something came up at my place, and I missed the subway."

"Nice to see you, As..", Buster trailed off as he got a closer view of the teenager in front of him.

Something was very strange about Ash's appearance. While she had her usual guitar in paw and heart sunglasses, she was wearing a large gray sweater covering her head and back not a single quill in sight.

"Um, Ash", Buster began to ask. "Whats with the sweater?"

"Oh, uh, no reason. Just wanted to wear it today, that's all.", Ash said before drinking her Slurpee.

"You sure you need that, Ash", Rosita asked. " It's kind of hot outside today, isn't it?"

"W-Well, yeah it is," Ash replied. "It's because I'm here.", she said, laughing nervously.

Everyone looked at Ash, who was now downing her Slurpee, in an attempt to avoid further talking.

"Well, if you want", Meena spoke up. "You don't have to wear it in here. Maybe you could take it off-"

"NO!"

Everyone all looked back in shock at the outburst. Meena shrank back, her ears covering her face.

Ash stopped before composing herself. "I mean...it's alright Meena.", she said calmly to the elephant. "It doesn't really bother me that much."

"Geez, Spikes", Mike began to say. "What's got your quills in a twist?"

"Nothing", she glared down at Mike. She then directed her attention to Buster. "So, what are we doing today?"

Buster looked at her for a few seconds, but decided it was probably best not to bring it up again. "We're getting ready for our next show. You think you can make a new song?"

"Oh yeah, sure", Ash responded nonchalantly. "I can definitely do that."

"Good", he then directed his attention across the stage. "Well, let's all get to work, and then meet back here around noon for lunch."

And with that, everyone left off to the practice rooms to rehearse.

As the stage emptied, Buster wondered before nodding as the door closed in front of him. He then turned to Eddie, standing beside him wearing his headphones.

"Yup", Buster concluded. "Ash is definitely hiding something".

"You think?"

* * *

A few hours later around noon, everyone had sat down on the stage. They were all eating a basketful of sandwiches and snacks that Rosita brought, along with a cake Meena had made.

As they ate, they noticed that around 10 minutes into their food, Ash still hadn't arrived.

"Where's Ash", Johnny asked before taking another bite out of his sandwich. "She should've been here 10 minutes ago."

"Maybe she doesn't know it's lunchtime yet", Meena said.

"Kid makes a good point", Mike concurred. "With as loud as Spikes plays, it's a wonder if she can hear herself think."

Buster nodded, before swallowing his bite and setting his sandwich down. "You guys are right. I'll go get her."

" _Hopefully she's in a better mood than this morning_ , he thought.

Buster walked off the stage to the direction of the practice rooms. On his way, he heard the slightly muffled sounds of a guitar playing. He smiled and shook his head as his paw grabbed the door. He opened up to the sight of Ash, headbanging to the tune she was playing, her eyes closed behind her sunglasses, and her hoodie having been lazily tossed on the floor.

"Hey Ash", Buster said, walking into the practice room. "It's noon. Time for-"

Buster paused as the guitar riffs suddenly stopped. Ash turned around, eyes as large as saucers, to face the koala standing in the doorway in front of her.

* * *

Everyone else was on the stage, listening to a story Gunter had been telling, laughing at the pig's exaggerated movements. Suddenly, the sounds of Buster and Ash's screams caught their attention. They all dropped their food and instantly ran to the practice rooms towards their friends.

"Buster!", Rosita called out in worry as she ran. "Is everything al-", she paused when they all stood behind Buster outside the doorway, and looking at Ash. "Right?"

No one could believe what they were looking at.

There stood Ash, her sweater off and wide-eyed. However, instead of thousands of quills, instead there was just sprawled out brown-pinkish fur, only a few stubs of still developing quills sticking out in a few places, as well as one prominently on her head.

She looked less like a porcupine, and more like a brown rat.

There was an uncomfortable lingering silence between everyone, until Mike broke the silence with,

"Spikes! You're bald!"

* * *

 **And that's the first chapter. Don't know how many more there will be, but I'm not expecting more than 5.**

 **Also, I need to give credit to bunny-lou on Tumblr, for the idea of Mike calling Ash "Spikes", because that's just brilliant. Go give their stories a look, they have a lot of Sing fanfics from prompts they were given.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it, and please review. Reviews are always appreciated :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all so much for the support! I'm so glad to so many of you like it.**

 **Comment shout-out:**

 **Fan: Thank you. I will.  
**

 **Langit Saga Wani: Of course I will.**

 **Guest: You're about to find out.**

 **LuSilveira: Thank you.**

 **Keniya: Thanks.**

 **Also, I made up a last name for Ash that goes with a headcanon of mine. Hopefully I'll get around to writing a story about it.**

 **Hope you all enjoy it**

* * *

It amazed Ash how fast Johnny could drive. She knew he could have something of a lead foot, but she never before actually felt the adrenaline of sitting in the car zooming down the streets.

To think, a half hour ago they were all at Moon Theater, and after a trip in the gorilla's car, now, here she was with the rest of her friends in the middle of the hospital

She would've complimented him for the feat. If she wasn't quite so busy at the moment.

"Guys, I'm fine', she tried to say, but it all fell on prey ears as her friends were busy yelling to the receptionist behind the desk. She could only make out a few sentence that were being said.

"We need to get someone here fast!"

"Ja! We've got a super major emergency on our hands!"

"It's gonna be your hands that Baldy over there will die on!"

"I'm not dying", Ash shouted to Mike, rolling her eyes.

All the yelling had garnered a lot of attention from other animals, who stared over at the group, and widening their eyes as they saw the bald porcupine. Ash sank lower into her seat, trying to hide her face in a magazine. She wished she had time to grab her hoodie to keep her current state from being exposed to everyone.

"What's going on out here?"

Everyone turned around to see a duck doctor run over to the commotion.

"Oh, it's our friend doctor", Buster answered as he grabbed the doctor's wing, and ran over to Ash, who was sitting on a chair trying not to be noticed.

The doctor went wide-eyed. "Oh my goodness! What happened?"

"We don't know", Meena spoke up. "We've never seen it before."

"I mean, one day she has quills, and the next day", Buster then pointed over to Ash. "She's completely bald."

"Just overnight", the doctor asked for reiteration.

"Yes", Rosita answered as calmly as she could. "Will she be alright?"

"Will her quills grow back", Gunter asked.

"How many days do you think Spike-less here will have left", spoke up Mike.

"For the last time", Ash said infuriated. "I am NOT dying!"

"But Ash", Rosita started to say. "Porcupines just don't lose their quills overnight."

"Well I DO", Ash shouted while she stood up on her chair. Everyone took a few steps back from Ash after the outburst.

"Hold on", the doctor came a but closer to Ash. "Did you say you shed all her quills overnight?"

Ash stood silent for a minute as the doctor stared at her. "Y-Yeah", she finally answered quieter. "Ever since I was a little kid."

The doctor examined Ash closely before gasping, while taking a step back. "Howlowitz?"

Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

"Howlo-who", Mike rudely asked.

The doctor ignored Mike and pointed to Ash as he asked, "Are you Howlowitz?"

Ash groaned before answering, "Yes". She turned over to the rest of the group. "It's my last name", she explained to them.

"Yes", the doctor confirmed. "It's been in all the records. A porcupine shedding off all its quills at the same time, no one's ever seen anything like it. It's practically a medical phenomenon."

Ash rolled her eyes tiredly at the doctor's explanation.

"So what you're saying is", Eddie said, "this is just something that happens to her naturally?"

"Yes"

"But why", Meena asked.

"Well, we don't really know. There have been theories, but nothing exactly for certain. We've just assumed that, since it mainly happens around the summer, it's just her way of shedding to cool off."

"Usually they grow back after a week", Ash added in.

"Well, geez Spikes", Mike commented. "Why didn't you say anything to us before all of this?"

Ash glared at him in exasperation, before deciding not to try to bother.

"...Well", the doctor began to speak up again. "If everything is all cleared up, would you please mind leaving? You're causing quite a stir around here."

"Oh, of course", Buster said as everyone started to walk out. "Sorry about that scare there."

With that, the all walked off to the doors to head back off into Johnny's car.

* * *

A few hours later, the group were all back on the stage, hanging out together. Johnny was singing and playing the piano, with Ms Crawley standing by to coach him. Gunter and Rosita, hearing the music, began to dance along with each other. Mike looked at them on the top of the piano, trying not to look impressed, but still snapping his paws and tapping his feet to the tune. That is, until Meena walked in and started to sing along with Johnny. After that, Mike eventually gave in and started to belt alongside them on his saxophone.

They had all calmed down since earlier that day at the hospital. Now, they were just having a good time. As the song ended, Buster and Eddie came in to applaud them, as they all looked at each other and smiled and laughed. As they did so, they saw Ash walk by, carrrying her guitar case starting to head off to the backstage door.

"Ash", Buster called out, catching the porcupine's attention. "Are you heading home?"

"Well, yeah. It's just been a lot of excitement today, and I think I'm just going to go head home and call it a day."

"Do you want me to drive you, Ash", Johnny offered.

While Ash appreciated the offer, she slightly shuddered at the speed Johnny's driving reached up to. "N-No thanks, Johnny", she politely declined. "I think I'll just walk home from."

"Do you need anything", Buster asked in concern.

"No, I'm alright."

"But what about your quills", Rosita asked. "Will you be alright without them?"

"Yeah, don't worry Rosita. I'll be fine, I've dealt with this before." Ash then got up from her seat and started to walk out the door. "I'll try to work on that song some more for tomorrow."

Ash pushed the large backstage door open, and walked out. The group looked at each other in worry as they saw the large door close with a large clunk.

* * *

Ash tiredly opened the door to the inside of her apartment. _Sheesh, what a day. Well, at least I'm home now,_ Ash thought to herself as she set down her guitar case by the doorway.

Even after years of this, I still wasn't used to it. The stares, the pointing, the whispers, animals avoiding her like the plague, thinking it was contagious. Although she must admit, it was the first time she had someone thinking she was going to die.

She was welcomed by the eerie silence lingering in her apartment. Even months after her breakup with Lance, she still felt unnerved being greeted by silence, as opposed to the strumming of guitar, the loud TV, or the sounds of Lance singing. Or sometimes, even all 3.

Ash sighed and walked into her bedroom. There, she was greeted to the sight of thousand of quills sprawled out all over the floor and her bed. Ignoring the mess that had been there since that morning, she walked over to her bed.

Pushing off hundreds of quills to one side of the bed, she went to lie down. As she lied there, covered in blankets, her eyelids starting to close, she suddenly remembered that she left her hoodie back at the theater. Meaning the stares, the whispers, the humiliation, she'd have to deal with it all over again tomorrow. She groaned as sh buried her face further into her pillow.

 _This is going to be a LONG week._

* * *

 **Well, that was...a chapter.**

 **I'm trying not to make Mike ooc. Not quite sure how much I'm succeeding.**

 **I hope you enjoyed it, and please review. Reviews are always appreciated :)**


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